Iowa State placed higher than both Harvard and Princeton in a survey ranking universities based on qualities other than academics.

Iowa State’s high ranking came because of a commitment to community service, social mobility and amount of research produced.

In a survey of national universities’ liberal arts colleges, Washington Monthly ranked Iowa State 34th and the University of Iowa 50th.

Daniel Franklin, consulting editor at the Washington Monthly, said they were looking for different criteria than other surveys. He said they wanted to look at which universities were making the largest impact in people’s lives.

Franklin said schools like Princeton and Brown did not do as well because they did not put community service as a priority.

He said when considering colleges and universities, they looked at how many students were receiving Pell Grants, were involved in ROTC, were participating in community service or were Peace Corps volunteers. He said they also looked at the percentage of federal work study grants the school devoted to community service projects.

Franklin said out of the $1.3 million in federal work study money ISU students received, $930,000 was dedicated to community service, making it the second-highest percentage of any school in the country, at 69 percent.

Twenty-five percent of students at Iowa State have Pell Grants, and the average package is a little more than $2,400 per person, said John McCarroll, executive director of university relations.

He said he was pleased to see a survey that took into consideration how students were serving their community and state.

“From what we know about the ranking, it does appear to look at the Iowa State education we find important,” McCarroll said.

Franklin said they also looked at research spending and the number of Ph.D.s received in science and engineering, which he said Iowa State did well in.

“Overall, Iowa State’s traditionally been a strong source of Peace Corps volunteers — and good ones at that. Particularly in the agriculture area,” said Gary Lore, public affairs specialist for the Minneapolis regional office of the Peace Corps.

Lore said for the summer of 2004, 27 ISU alumni were serving in the Peace Corps, ranking Iowa State as 65th among large universities. Since 1961, Iowa State ranks 37th out of 2,800 colleges and universities in overall volunteers.

Maj. William Carlson, adjunct professor of military science and tactics, stressed the quality of the ROTC program at Iowa State. It is one of the largest in the nation with an average of 70 to 80 cadets participating, he said.

“Our numbers are going up, as well as with the quality,” Carlson said.

Franklin said he was surprised to see some schools with less notoriety do well.

“It was rather reassuring to see you guys excelling,” he said.

He gave credit to the administration for helping students not only have the opportunity to attend Iowa State, but also graduate.

Franklin said they were limited on data, but plan redo the survey with more data that includes which schools produce the most teachers, nurses and government workers.